Remember when America was the progressive country?
Watch this McDonald’s commercial from France and wonder where America went wrong.
Ask Gynomite!
In her former life, Emily “Gynomite” Gordon was a couples and family therapist licensed in 2 1/2 states. In this life, she’s a freelance fighter of your emotional woes. Write her at askgynomite@gmail.com- all emails stay confidential. You can also check her out on her weekly column over at Lemondrop. Today, Gynomite takes on gaining insight and making changes, or something like that…
I have this friend who is always making sweeping changes in her life (like deciding she wanted to run a marathon and then dropping it), and is always having all these epiphanies about herself that she calls life changing, but nothing ever really changes. She just gets philosophical for a few days and then is back to normal. I don’t know what question I’m asking, but I’m tired of it. I guess…do I have to put up with it or can I tell her she’s being stupid?
Thank goodness I have a tshirt to explain to people how rebellious I am.
As seen at the Converse store.
Moving the Couch: A Photo Essay
This is our couch. We decided to move it behind our building for the local guys to hang out on. But we needed David Angelo's help.
New York Exodus
I don’t normally talk too much about my current personal life here, but let me paint you a picture of the base of operations at Gynomite Inc right now.
In our apartment is a couch, two pillows, a blanket, two suitcases, a TV, a Playstation 3, and a cat. That’s it. We shipped off everything we own two days ago and on Tuesday, we will be flying across country to our new apartment in LA to meet our stuff. I feel stressed/apprehensive/excited/sad/scared/uncomfortable/adventurous, and I can’t wait to be in our new apartment, but mostly because I can’t wait to sleep in my bed again. I love New York, and I love our friends here, and I loved our lives here. New York proved to me that I can do anything, and as hard as it is to live here sometimes, there’s nothing that can compare to a city that makes you feel like a superhero for just existing. I don’t really have anything poetic or profound to say right now, just wanted to explain if I seem a bit absentee or rambly.
Here’s our New York portrait, as taken by Mindy Tucker.
I promise, we’ll be back.
Nicknames!
Have you ever wondered where nicknames come from? Most of them make no sense.
The big answer is that in the Middle Ages, people a) got tired of writing out full names, and b) liked to rhyme, which is how we got the nicknames Dick (Richard –> Rick –> Dick), Bill (William –> Will –> Bill), and Ted (Edward –> Ed –> Ted).
What about Hank from the name Henry? Well, the Dutch form of Henry is Hendrick, and the nickname for people named Hendrick is Henk (yikes), so eventually Henry became Hank.
Chuck from Charles? In Middle English, Charles was actually Chukken, so the people who were working with both languages put the names together and we got Chuck.
Find more fun nickname stories at Mental Floss today!
Guess what celebrity got a makeover?!
Gone are the glasses and the extra pounds, and helllllllllo gorgeous!
A fitting way to say goodbye.
This brilliance is from The Soup, who found the best way to say goodbye to The Tyra Show.
You still got it, Joel and staff!
Coming to Terms with Los Angeles
As part of my ongoing effort to come to terms with leaving Brooklyn and moving to LA in a couple of days, here’s an essay from the LA Times about a woman who recently moved to LA and, like me, hates the expectations that summer creates. Here, read a nugget:
The truth is, summer is lame everywhere. It’s the most over-hyped season of the year, not a vacation so much as the expectation of a vacation, basically three months of New Year’s Eves where the only possible reason you wouldn’t be enjoying yourself to the fullest is that you’re not thin enough, outdoorsy enough or drunk enough.
This is either a trailer for that movie Inception or some messed up dream you had.
This is a bridge in Russia that was just built a year ago and has been thrown into chaos by massive waves. Just so you know, this bridge was not designed to wobble. From Neatorama!
